Method of forming buttons and the like



Dec. 29, 1925.

r R. L. WILCOX METHOD OF FORMING BUTTONS AND THE LIKE Filed March 19, 1923 Patented Dec. 29, 1925.

UNITED STATES 1,56s,0ze

PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD LESTER WILCOX, OF VJATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE WATERBURY FARREL FOUNDRY AND MACHINE COMPANY, A CORPDBATION OF CONNECTICUT.

, METHOD OF FOlRLllEIBl'Grv BUTTONS AND THE LIKE.

Application filed March 19, 1923. Serial No. 626,125.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD Lns'rnn WIL- cox, a citizen of the United States, residing at Waterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Forming Buttons and the like, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings This invention relates to an improved method of forming buttons and the like.

, Heretofore metal buttons have generally been made by stamping the same out of sheet metal, then folding or rolling the outer edges thereof, and finally piercing the thread holes therethrough.

The. type of button so formed is of uni-- form thickness of metal throughout and much metal is wasted in its production. If it is desired that a shank should be provided adjacent to the thread holes, one or more additional pieces are generally assembled with the head portion of the button. The operations required to form such a button demand tools of great exactness, which are expensive to produce and require skilled labor in their manipulation.

In my new and improved method tools of the simplest character are utilized that produce a button from a single piece of metal, without waste of material. that mayvary in thickness as desired, provided with a flange of any shape or size. and the shank, if any, of any diameter or thickness. 1

Referring to the drawings, in which lik numerals of reference designate like parts in the several figures;

Fig. 1 illustrates end and side views of a slug or blank from which the button is made;

Fig. 2 illustrates similar views of the blank after an operation thereon;

Fig. 3 illustrates views of the blank after the thread holes have been pierced therethrough and countersunk upon one side;

Fig. 4 illustrates views of the completed button; f

Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation of one form of the tools in their relative positions after the formation of a blank shown therein and illustrated in Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a similar View of the tools utilized to operate upon the blank as shown therein and illustrated in Fig. 3; and

Fig. 7 is a similar View of the tools utilized to operate upon the blank as shown therein and illustrated in Fig. 4-.

In some cases it is not desired that the thread holes should be chamfered or hell mouthed at their bottom ends, in which case the operations necessary to produce the blanks shown in Fig. 4 are not required.

In the drawing, 10 designates the blank from which the button is formed. This is perfectly cylindrical in jshape and of a length determined by the amount of metal necessary to form a completed button.

This blank may be cut from a wire rod or length upon the same machine as contains one or more sets of the other tools and presented thereto in any desired manner, or the blanks may be formed in a separate machine or even may be made of cast metal, then, by means of hopper mechanism, by hand, or other means, delivered successively to the tools.

The reference numeral 11 designates a die, 12 a punch having operatively mounted therein a supplemental punch 13, upon which is a collar 14, that is fitted within a chamber 15 and by means of a spring 16 hearing thereagainst imparts rel'ative movement to said supplemental punch.

The face of the die 11 is shaped similarly to the top of the button and the face of the punch 12 to the underside thereof, so that when the die 11 and punch 12 are substantially in the positions shown in Fig. 5 the blank 10 that has been placed therebetween is by pressure shaped so as to form the button 17. As so shaped, the button has a conca-ved upper face 18, a rim 19 substantially cylindrical in cross section, a shank 20 and a web portion 21 between the rim 19 and shank 20 that is of substantially uniform thickness. This web portion may be formed as to vary in thickness, for illustration, the metal adjacent to the rim 19 may be thin and at the shank considerably thicker.

As the punch 12 is withdrawn from the die 11 the supplemental punch 13 by its engagement with the underside of the shank 20 holds the button 17 against the face of the die, thus stripping it from the punch 12, which it might, and probably would follow. When the face 22 of the collar 14 abuts against the end 23 of the chamber 15, supplemental punch 13 travels with the punch 12 and away from the blank, which is then grasped by the fingers, or other means, as may be desired, and transferred to the next set of tools, or it may drop off the face of the die by gravity and be subsequently delivered to said tools in any preferred manner.

Referring now to Fig. 6, the reference numeral 24: designates the die block, which, as shown, has a recess 27 in one face, and within which is a die 25 having four holes 26 therethrough, the number of which may be varied as desired; 28 is the punch holder, within which are mounted a plurality of punches 29 corresponding in number with the holes in the die 25. These punches are formed with a chamfering shoulder 30 so that after piercing a hole, as shown in Fig. 6, the continued movement thereof forms a charnfer or bell mouthed opening at the upper end, as shown in Figs. 3 and 6.

The disks of metal cut by the punches 29 escape from the die holder 24-. through the opening 36.

If it is desired that both ends of the thread holes be chamfered or bell mouthed, a subsequent operation may be performed by tools substantially as shown in Fig. 7, wherein the numerals 31 and 32 designate the punch holders, within which are mounted the punches 33, and 34, respectively, which at their outer ends have beveled chamfering faces 35.

If the blank is operated upon in the inanner illustrated in Fig. 7,the thread holes may be pierced in the manner substantially as shown in Fig. 6, in which case the upper end thereof may be chamfered or bell mouthed, as shown therein, or left square to be chamfered by the tools, as in Fig. 7.

\Vhile I have illustrated a round button in the drawings, this is immaterial, as buttons of any shape may be made equally as well, and letters, figures, symbols, and the like may be formed thereon.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

The hereindescribed method of making buttons, which resides in subjecting a blank to endwise pressure and in limiting the outward flow of the metal to form a solid head concave on one side and a solid central integral thickened shank or hub forming area on the other side, of sulficient crosssection to accomn-iodate a group of thread holes then in supporting a side face of the shank forming area, and then in piercing such area to form thread holes while so supported.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto affixed my signature.

RICHARD LESTER VILCOX. 

